Schweitzer is not the first U.S. governor to stump for a state-funded health care system. Earlier this year, Gov. Peter Shumlin (D-Vt.) signed Green Mountain Care into law and began moving his state toward single-payer.

Both Schweitzer and Shumlin claim that such a system will make health insurance accessible to everyone while controlling health care costs. But that's not the case. Evidence of the failure of single-payer abounds in Canada, whose big-government approach to health care has proven disastrous for patients.

Given their proximity to our northern neighbor, Schweitzer and Shumlin should know this better than anyone else.

Gov. Schweitzer's proposal calls for setting up state-run community health clinics to treat Medicaid enrollees, who make up 20% of Montana's population. He'd then add about 60,000 state employees to that pool -- with the goal of eventually offering this "public option" to all residents.

Instead of contracting for specific services with health care providers, as in our conventional health care system, patients would make a co-payment for treatment at these government-funded clinics.

Vermont's Green Mountain Care would operate similarly. A state-funded and -managed insurance exchange would be open to all residents. A five-member board, appointed by Shumlin, would have responsibility for setting up the state's systems for delivering care and reimbursing doctors. The goal is the same as in Montana -- eventually, all residents would be covered by the state.

Gov. Schweitzer explicitly appealed to Canada's health care system when outlining his plans. He pointed out all the commonalities between his state and the neighboring province of Saskatchewan -- where Canada's socialized medical system was launched in the 1940s by Premier Tommy Douglas. The full takeover of the Canadian system by the government was completed in the 1980s. The state and the province have similar populations, comparable demographic makeup, and even an average age difference of just two months.

Schweitzer is also quick to compare costs. Saskatchewan's health bill is just $4 billion, while Montana pays double that. Schweitzer laments the discrepancy, saying that it's as if "you looked over at a car with a Canadian license plate. They were paying $1 a gallon for gas, and you're paying $2."